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Virtual Management
Systems Privacy Policy Notice
PURPOSE OF THIS NOTICE
Virtual Management Systems shares your
concern for privacy and security. Accordingly, to guard your
nonpublic personal information and ensure confidentiality, we
maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to
comply with applicable laws. Title V of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley
Act (GLBA) and the laws of the State of Oregon, generally
prohibit us from sharing nonpublic personal information about
you with a third party unless we provide you with this notice of
our privacy policies and practices, such as the type of
information that we collect about you and the categories of
persons or entities to whom that information may be disclosed.
In compliance with the GLBA and the laws of this State, we are
providing you with this document, which notifies you of the
privacy policies and practices of Virtual Management Systems .
The laws of this State further require that we inform you that
we may not share your personal information with a nonaffiliated
third party for any purpose that is not specifically authorized
by law unless we obtain your affirmative permission.
OUR PRIVACY POLICIES AND
PRACTICES
- Information we collect:
Categories of Information Collected
and Sources From Which We Collect It
We collect nonpublic personal
information about you from the following sources:
- Information we receive from you on
applications or other forms.
- Information about your transactions
with our affiliates, others, or us.
- Information we receive from a
consumer-reporting agency.
Information we
receive from medical records or medical professionals.
B. Persons From Whom Information is
Collected
We do not collect nonpublic
personal information from anyone other than the individual(s)
proposed for coverage.
C. Information From Credit Reports or
Investigative Consumer Reports
If you authorize us to do so, we
may obtain information about you from credit reports or other
investigative consumer reports prepared by third parties at our
request. If you authorize us to request such information and we
do request such information, you should be aware that:
· You have the right to request to be interviewed in
connection with the preparation of such a report.
· Upon request, you are entitled to receive a copy of the
report.
· The information obtained from the report prepared by the third
party may be retained by the third party and disclosed to other
persons.
2. Information we may disclose to third
parties:
In the course of our general
business practices, we may disclose the information that we
collect (as described above) about you or others without your
permission to the following types of institutions for the
reasons described:
- To a third party if the disclosure
will enable that party to perform a business, professional or
insurance function for us;
- To an insurance institution, agent,
or credit reporting agency in order to detect or prevent
criminal activity, fraud or misrepresentation in connection
with an insurance transaction;
- To an insurance institution, agent,
or credit reporting agency for either this agency or the
entity to whom we disclose the information to perform a
function in connection with an insurance transaction involving
you;
- To a medical care institution or
medical professional in order to verify coverage or benefits,
inform you of a medical problem of which you may not be aware,
or conduct an audit that would enable us to verify treatment;
- To an insurance regulatory authority,
law enforcement, or other governmental authority in order to
protect our interests in preventing or prosecuting fraud, or
if we believe that you have conducted illegal activities;
- To a group policyholder for the
purpose of reporting claims experience or conducting an audit
of our operations or services;
- To an actuarial or research
organization for the purpose of conducting actuarial or
research studies;
In addition to those circumstances
listed above, and unless you tell us not to, we may
disclose certain information about you to third parties whose
only use of the information will be for purposes of marketing a
product or service. Under no circumstances will we disclose for
marketing purposes any medical information; information relating
to a claim for benefit or, a civil or criminal proceeding
involving you; or personal information relating to your
character, personal habits, mode of living or general
reputation.
3. Your right to access and amend your
personal information
You have the right to request
access to the personal information that we record about you.
Your right includes the right to know the source of the
information and the identity of the persons, institutions or
types of institutions to whom we have disclosed such information
within 2 years prior to your request. Your right includes the
right to view such information and copy it in person, or request
that a copy of it be sent to you by mail (for which we may
charge you a reasonable fee to cover our costs). Your right also
includes the right to request corrections, amendments or
deletions of any information in our possession. The procedures
that you must follow to request access to or an amendment of
your information are as follows:
To obtain access to your information:
You should submit a request in writing to Virtual Management
Systems attn: Privacy Notification Dept. P O Box 6809, Bend OR
97708. The request should include your name, address, social
security number, telephone number, and the recorded information
to which you would like access. The request should state whether
you would like access in person or a copy of the information
sent to you by mail.
Upon receipt of your request, we will
contact you within 30 business days to arrange providing you
with access in person or the copies that you have requested.
To correct, amend, or delete any of
your information: You should submit a request in writing to
Virtual Management Systems attn: Privacy Notification Dept. P O
Box 5356, Bend OR 97708. The request should include your name,
address, social security number, telephone number, the specific
information in dispute, and the identity of document or record
that contains the disputed information. Upon receipt of your
request, we will contact you within 30 business days to notify
you either that we have made the correction, amendment or
deletion, or that we refuse to do so and the reasons for the
refusal, which you will have an opportunity to challenge.
4. Our practices regarding information
confidentiality and security:
We restrict access to nonpublic
personal information about you to those employees who need to
know that information in order to provide products or services
to you. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural
safeguards that comply with federal regulations to guard your
nonpublic personal information.
5. Our policy regarding dispute
resolution:
Any controversy or claim arising
out of or relating to our privacy policy, or the breach thereof,
shall be settled by arbitration in accordance with the rules of
the American Arbitration Association, and judgment upon the
award rendered by the arbitrator(s) may be entered in any court
having jurisdiction thereof.
6. Reservation of the right to disclose
information in unforeseen circumstances:
In connection with the potential
sale or transfer of its interests, Virtual Management Systems
reserves the right to sell or transfer your information
(including but not limited to your address, name, age, sex, zip
code, state and country of residency and other information that
you provide through other communications) to a third party
entity that (1) concentrates its business in a similar practice
or service; (2) agrees to Virtual Management Systems ’s
successor in interest with regard to the maintenance and
protection of the information collected; and (3) agrees to the
obligations of this privacy statement.
THE REMAINDER OF THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES
HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND
HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT
CAREFULLY.
1. Statement of Our Duties
We are required by the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 to maintain the
privacy of your personal health information and to provide you
with this notice of our privacy practices and legal duties. We
are required to abide by the terms of this notice. We reserve
the right to change the terms of this notice and to make any new
provisions effective to all of the personal health information
that we maintain about you. If we revise this notice, we will
provide you with a revised notice in writing 30 days prior to
revision.
2. Statement of Your Rights
You have a right to know how we may use
or disclose your personal health information. This notice
informs you of those uses and disclosures. There are certain
uses and disclosures of your personal health information that we
are permitted or required to make by law without your
permission. For all other uses and disclosures, we first must
obtain your permission. In addition, you have the following
rights:
(a) The right to request that we
place additional restrictions on our uses and disclosures of
your personal health information (beyond what the law
requires), but we are not obligated to agree to any such
additional restrictions.
(b) The right to access, inspect and
copy the protected information pertaining to you that we
maintain in our files about you, and the right to have us
correct or amend any information that we create in error.
(c) The right to receive an accounting
of the disclosures of your personal health
information that we make for
purposes other than activities related to your
treatment, or our payment functions or other health care
operations.
(d) The right to request that you
receive communications of personal health information in a
confidential manner.
(e) The right to obtain a paper copy
of this notice from us on request.
3. Permissible Uses and Disclosures
of Protected Health Information
(a) Payment Functions. We may
use or disclose your health information without your
permission to carry out
activities relating to reimbursing you for the provision of
health care, obtaining premiums, determining coverage, and
providing benefits under the policy of insurance that you are
purchasing. For example, payment functions may include (but
are not limited to) reviewing healthcare services with respect
to medical necessity, coverage under the policy,
appropriateness of care, or justification of charges.
(b) Health Care Operations. We
also may use or disclose your protected health information
without your permission to carry out certain insurance-related
activities. These activities include using your protected
information for underwriting, premium rating, or other
activities relating to the creation, renewal or replacement of
another contract of health insurance, and ceding, securing, or
placing a contract for reinsurance of risk relating to claims
for health care.
(c) Uses Permitted/Required By Law.
We also may use or disclose your protected health
information without your written permission for purposes
permitted or required by law.
(d) Authorized Uses. All other
uses or disclosures of your protected health information will
be made only with your written permission, and any permission
that you give us may be revoked by you at any time.
4. Complaints About Misuse of Health
Information
You may complain either directly
to us or to the Secretary of Health and Human Service if you
believe that your rights with respect to our protection of your
health information have been violated. To file a complaint with
us, you may by submitting a complaint in writing that includes
as many details (such as names and dates) as possible. You will
not be retaliated against in any way for filing a complaint.
Complaints should be mailed to Virtual Management Systems attn:
Privacy Notification Dept. PO Box 5356 Bend OR 97708
5. Contact Person for Filing Complaint
of Obtaining Further Information
Complaints
should be mailed to Virtual Management Systems attn: Privacy
Notification Dept. PO Box 5356 Bend OR 97708.
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